Purves was a left -handed batsman who bowled right-arm medium pace.
Following this match he played a first-class fixture for the Free Foresters against Oxford University.
[1] The following season he made four further first-class appearances for Essex, the last of which came against Middlesex in the County Championship.
Also in 1962, Purves made his only first-class appearance for the Marylebone Cricket Club against Cambridge University.
In 1964, he made his final first-class appearance for the Free Foresters against Oxford University.